Ciiap. XX. NEW SETTLEMENT. 341 
Singapore, and the other ports of the Straits of 
Malacca, &c. 
On the right bank of the Pei-ho, below the sub- 
urbs of Tien-tsin, and near an old dilapidated fort, 
a large tract of land has been set apart for the 
houses and godowns of foreigners, and for the Con- 
sulates of those foreign Powers that have treaties 
with China. This land, at the time of riiy visit, 
was covered with vegetable gardens, a few miser- 
able mud huts, and a good sprinkling of tombs. 
At one portion of the ground a granite stone, with 
Chinese characters, informed the traveller that this 
had been set apart for the merchants of the “ Great 
English Nation.” The French settlement ad- 
joined the English, and the subjects of the other 
treaty Powers will be located in the same quarter. 
The ground is low, and I believe liable to be 
flooded by the river at high tides or after heavy 
rains. It will therefore require to be raised above 
the highest high-water mark. As in Shanghae, 
the dead will have to “ move on ” to some quieter 
locality, in order to give room for the living. 
When choosing their graves, these good people 
little thought that the “ barbarians ” or “ white 
devils” from the West would one day turn them 
out of the quarters which they had selected with 
so much care. 
When I last visited the site of the settlement 
(October, 1861) its purchase had been arranged, 
the money had been paid, and some ^>f the mer- 
chants were about to commence raising the land. 
